Heat regulator



Sept. 16 1924.

A. F. ERICKSON Ham: REGULATOR Filed Sent. 6.

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ARTHUR' rj.. rimango foargdtivn, OREGON.' HEAT Eisenmann.

Application illedSeptember 6, 1921. Serial :No-498,882.

Be it known that I, ARTHUR F.

a citizenof the United States, residing at Portland, county of Gregon, have invented certain new and useful, Improvements* in, HeatRegulators, of

which' the following is aspeciication.

My invention relates to heat regulators general, and particularly to such regul in connection with gas4 heaters, being especially adapted in' its pre form to the regulation of lgasheated in io'lators as are used ferred hot water tanks, and isso illustrated in the VV.accompanying drawing.

159K v'llie'fobject 'of myinvention is :to provide.

adevicethat'may be set so asto allow of any predetermined portion of the Volume of water within' 'a hot waterl ;'l1eated by a gas heater, and being s o heated can be kept hot indefinitely without increase or decrease in the volume of waterkept hot,

' and with 'the minimum consumption of gas.

l I accomplish the above object,- and other :desirable -'results by means of the construc- 275 tion v'illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which is afpart ofl this application for 'Letters 4Patent, like characters ot reference '-findicating like'parts throughout the several viewsithreof, and inwhich: v i

W xFig." ,51 'isa view of a hot water tank and `:gashheater .with my device installed therewit Fig. 2 is a perspective view ofthe interior of the thermosta 5 Fig.` 3 is a plan view of the thermostat.

. Fig. 4 is a. sectional thermostat. ''Fign 5 is a detail of ythe thermostat-suspension device.` D Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation netically operated valve. In general my device consists of an 'es- 'Of the. maga netically operated valve electrical1y.con

nected in series with said thermostat anda source of electric current, said valvefoon'- .1 leakageoccur within the valve '17 no gas can v The thermostat 7 is adaptedto. contacte" solenoid.

trolling the gas supply to a gasgheaterb with the hot water talnk 8 and tobemounted -by mechanism that permits of the vertical movement of the thermostat upon'gthetank while being always in contact therewith. As a convenient and suitable means of'accom- ERICKSON, i

Multnomah, State ofv .'adjacenteach'end ofthe tank being elevation of 'y the .is integrally secured to pecially 'constructed andv novel thermostatmounted in contact with ahot water-tank in.

i a vertically movable manner, and a. magl.

plishing--this-I -suspend thethermostat upon an endless flexible member,- such as the chain 9 operatinglover suitable pulley-blocks 10 tank 8. The up-v per--pulleyblock may. be suspended from the tank .top by-"a flexible member,` such as the chain 11, and the lower pulley block may be secured to the Hoor by meansv of a screw eye 12. The thermostat vis conveniently con, nected to said iiexible member 9 by suitable 65 eyelet members 13 respectively engagin l suitable ears 14' upon the 'thermostat, an a'-spring '15'is connected into said exible member 9 to secure sufficient tensiontherein to keep thev thermostat always in contact with thetank 8. Y Y 4The thermostat ,is connected'in series with` a suitablev source of electric current, such asthe `dry battery 16 'and a gas regulating valve 17,which valvef-1`7A cont-rolsthe' gas supply to 'a-gas water heater 18. Said valve 17 is provided with a vertically disposed knife edged lannular seat 18 coacting with a valve member 19 having a washer 20 of yieldable'materialtherein adapted to 'contactwith the seat 18, said. washer being preferably ofv leather. Vertically. mounted upon said valve 17 is a solenoid -21 with two electrical binding .posts .22',upon the upper end thereof, andwith a centrally disposed tube 23`extending .therethrough and downward slightly into the top of the valve 17, as shown in Fig. 6; Thelower head 244 of said solenoid 21 1s ada ted to be attached to the valve -17 preferab y screwed thereon as shown in Fig. 6', there being ayieldable washer 25 intermediate said head 24 and said valve 17 to, provide a gas tight joint therebetween.- The upper head 26 of said solenoid 21 hasa projection thereon adapted toenter the upper end of the tube 23, and said tube each of said heads 24 'and226 in any suitable manner, such as soldering?` Q1 the like.' The result of this solidintegral connection of the vtwo heads 100 by'meansof'the tube 23 combined 'with the "use ofthe washer 25 'is 'afperfectly gas tight solenoid, thus 'providing-that should any gas ,escape into vthe atmosphere by way 4of the 105 .The lsolenoid is provided with a-plunger 27 having upon the' lower end 'thereof two .collars 28 and 29, each of said collars being integrally formed rupon the plunger 277,` as

said collars29 1s 27 is eXacly vertical in position. A. spring 30 is disposed intermediate the washer 25 and the collar 28, being adapted to hold 'the shown in Fig. 6

-valve member 19 upon its seat 18, the upper end of said spring embracing the lowerend of the tube 23 where the latter enters the valve 17 and thus insuring that said spring does not contact with the plunger 27 to cause friction thereupon.

r1`he thermostat is composed cfa box like member 7 having ears 14 thereupon by which it is suspended, said member being open' `upon that tace 'thereof adjacent thel hot water tank 8, and curved upon such tace to fit said tank, as shown in Fig.V 3. A

Within said member 7 'is mounteda thermostatic member 31 connected to an electric binding post 32 upon the member-,7. An electric contact member 33 sprovided to coact with the :tree end of said thermostatic member 31 and electrically connect the latter to an electric binding post 34 bymean's'Y of `a bracket 35. constructed of spring material, and 1s mounted upon the bracket 35 by meansof a suitable insulation member 36, but `is electrically in connection with said `bracket 35, 'when said spring contact member 33 is'in'normal position, by means of theV contact pieces 3 7, The spring member 33 is .of sufficient delie v cacy to allow of its being deflected upon' 'the within the tank may thermostat' member 31 coming intocontact' therewith, and thus breaking the electric circuit through the contact pieces-37.

A resistance coil 38 is mounted within the thermostat housing 7 and one end of said resistance coil is connectedby wire 39 tothe spring member 33, and resistance coil is connected by wire 40 to the bracket 35.

rlhere is a line of p temperature change upon hot water tanks sufficiently pronounced to operate the thermostat, and lthus through the valve 17 to operate the heater 18, turning the latter vod or on as the varying temperature of the water within the tank deter-V mines, and any desired volume of water be constantly kept hot by setting the thermostat'at-that point where the desired volume is represented by that portion of the 4tank above the thermostat.

In Fig. 1 the thermostat is shown set a short distance below. the top ot' the 'tank lLet it be supposed that the volume of water within the tank above the'thermostat is sut- 'tery.

solenoid 21 of the valve 17 causing the latcurrent flows.

. solenoid 21 and lets 18 to supply the other end of saidv recaen iicient to supply the ordinary needs ot the household during the 'day if kept constantly hot.' Let it be further" supposed thatthe water within. the tank is cooling 0H. the operation of myv device is as follows.

When the water has cooled toa temperature sufiicient to operate the thermostat, the thermostatic member '31 will contact with the spring member 33, and thus an electric current is established from the battery 16 throughwire 41 and binding post 32 to thermostatic member 31, spring member 33, contacts`37, bracket 35 and binding post 34, wire 42, solenoid 21, and'wire 43 to the batrThis electric current energizes the ter to open, and to stay open as long as said The opening of the valve 17 starts up the gas heater 18yand thus causes hot water to enter the tank 8. As soon` as that water within the tank adjacent the thermostat becomes hot enough to operate the thermostatic member 31 in the opposite direction 'said member moves away from the spring member 33 and thus brakes the electric currentabove described at the point of contact therebetween.;L This deenergizes the the valve 17 close under the impulse oi'the spring 30, thus shutting down the heater V18.

vWhen the water becomes cool again the *thusl that waterwithin the tank above the thermostat will be kept at substantially constant temperature indefinitely.

Should a demand for a large amountV ot hot water be anticipated the thermostat is movedv downward uponthe tank until the volume of water above the thermostat is sufficient to meet the anticipated demand, and then the thermostat automatically operatesjthe valve 17 and thus causes the heater hot water to the tank, and the thermostat holds the valve 17 open until the heater has deposited sufficient Ahot water within the tank to completely iill that portion of the tank above the thermostat, whereuponl the thermostat causes the valve 17 to close, and allows the latter to remain closed until the water begin's to cool oit. whereupon the thermostatA again' opens the valve 17 and causes `more ,-hot water from the heater to enter the tanl It is thus .seen vthat the device is entirely automatic, and requires no attention further thanplacing the thermostatin such a position' that that portion of the tank above the thermostat represents the volume of water required be kept hot, orto be quicklyheated for some particular purpose.

As above explained my device uses electric current constantly while the water is being heated in order..y to hold the valve 17 open, and to reduce the current comsumption'r to a minimum is the functionI ot the gas water heater;

resistance coil 38, which operates as follows.

en the thermostatic `member 31 contacts with the spring member 33 the electric spring member 31 and breaks the circuit ati` the contact points 37. The current then flows as before, excepti that it flows from the spring member 33 through wire 39, resistance coil 38 and wire 40 to the bracket 35, the resistance coil cutting down the current to. that just sufficient to hold the valve 17 open. l

My device may be made of any size, and constructed of lany materials deemed convenient and suitable for a device of this character, and while I have illustrated and describeda form of construction and arrangement of parts found desirable inmaterializing my lnvention, I wish to include in this application for letters patent all mechanical equivalents and substitutes that may fairly be considered to come within the scope and purview of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having disclosed my invention so that.

others may be enabled to construct the same, what I claim as new, and desire to secure' byLetters Patent is:

1. A thermostat; mechanism for slidably mounting said thermostat adjacent a hot water tank; an.electromagnetically operated valve controlling the gas supply to a said valve and said trolling said thermostat being connected into lan electric current circuit.

water heater; and mechanism for slidably mounting said thermostat adjacent a hot water tank.

heater; thermos-tatie mechanism .for conenabling said thermostatic, mechanism Vto cause said heater to maintain -a constant supply of hot water of predetermined vol- -ume within said tank.

4. The combination" of ahot Water tank; a gas water heater; an electro-magnetically operated valve controlling the gas supply of said heater; a thermostatcontroling the electric operation 'of said valve; and :means of mounting said thermostat in a slidable manner upon said tank.

5. A hot water tank; a as water heater;

as to cause the latter to maintain a predetermined volume of water at a constant temperature within saidtank.

In witness whereof I claim the foregoing as my own. I hereunto aiix my signature in the preseneiof two witnesses at Portland,

, county .of Multnomah, State of Oregon, this 30thyday of Aug., 1921.

. ARTHUR Witnesses: I

C. F. BLAKE,

. vL. ROBINSON.

F. ERICKSON. j

2. A thermostat adapted to 'control a A hot water tank a gas operated water heater; and mechanism for and mechanism for control ing said heater sov 

